Grave Covenant by Tobias Youngblood

Author:Tobias Youngblood [Youngblood, Tobias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Riposte Press, LLC
Published: 2023-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

The Great Tome

Iris crawled in silence, aside from the soft patter of her hands and knees on the aluminum duct. Every so often, she stopped and put an ear to the metal beneath her. The hallway below—what Siv had said would be the council halls—was just as quiet.

At certain points, the duct branched to smaller vents on each side—too small for her to crawl through. It was at these junctures that voices, faint as whispers, crept to her ears from the chambers below. She shivered, the true terror of this unknown place settling in for the first time.

I am inside the nest of another species.

Iris kept moving ever more carefully. She focused on Siv’s Tome. The vilskje had said it held great knowledge. How proud would her father be when she discovered a historical treasure all on her own? A smile snuck to the corners of her mouth.

After several minutes, the duct changed direction, turning up and to one side in a gradual slope. Iris crawled a little faster at this sign of progress.

This must be the stairs below that Siv mentioned. The duct is climbing parallel with them.

She was close now. According to Siv, there would be a return duct in the hallway ceiling just ahead. Siv’s chamber would be down there on the left. But now that she was nearly there, the thought of dropping down brought goosebumps to her skin. The vilskje, by her father’s teachings, were a docile species in touch with the natural world. But Siv said an evil had corrupted their kind. These might not be the same shifters from her father’s lessons.

I don’t know if I can do this.

She recalled the Hoffnari, those trickster demons of old, and felt her throat dry. Was it possible that she was crawling into one of their traps? Perhaps that was their voices below, not vilskje at all. She didn’t know how elaborate their schemes could get. This seemed like a place where demons could congregate.

She shook the image of grinning demons from her head and struck onward. This was no time to chicken out. If she turned back without the Tome, she’d be in no better position to save her father. And she’d have lost precious time. Worst of all would be the shame. Only a coward would turn back now … and Iris may be a lot of things, but coward was not one of them.

Ahead, the tunnel leveled out, and orange light seeped from below through a return air duct. She crawled close to it, listening for sounds in the hallway beneath. There was only silence. She inspected the duct. The circumference would be big enough to squeeze her body through, but something was in the way, blocking her from seeing the hallway below.

Siv didn’t mention this part. How do I get down there?

She reached down and pushed on one end of the obstruction. It felt light to the touch and moved freely. She pushed harder, surprised when the other end popped up. She grabbed it and inspected the cardboard square.

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